Annually when March comes, I anticipate that in some way the arrival of the spring equinox will coincide with the arrival of hotter climate. Possibly, simply perhaps, I can begin to plant some early spring seeds. I’m frequently disenchanted within the lack of a match between my concepts in regards to the calendar and the fact of the world, as we proceed to get snow by March and typically even into April. (I write these columns upfront, and whilst I write, I feel, However perhaps this 12 months shall be totally different!)
Our prayer lives may at instances really feel frozen or out of sync with the liturgical season. Maybe we discover that prayer is dry and count on that if we simply pray a little bit tougher, in some way issues shall be totally different. Or I’d count on to really feel pleasure at Easter, however the world round me nonetheless feels as if it’s again at Ash Wednesday once I see a world in want of therapeutic and redemption. I need to get my emotions to align with the calendar or with my very own expectations about how God shall be with me in prayer. If a specific psalm has been consoling previously, I’d strive to return to it and be disenchanted when comfort doesn’t come, and prayer continues to be dry. God is doing one thing totally different, and it’s not in my management.
Typically the problem is simply permitting God to be with us the place we’re, whether or not that’s staying with dryness, feeling grief on the struggling of the world, or noticing that God consoles in a wholly totally different manner than that to which we’re accustomed. Maybe we’re used to experiencing deep peace in centering prayer and discover that now, as an alternative, praying with Psalms presents us extra of a connection to God. Or perhaps quiet time spent alone with God produces little aside from distractions, however I sense God’s presence in my work and within the relationships round me.
We’re not answerable for how our prayer goes or what God is doing with us at any given second, any greater than we’re answerable for the climate or the calendar. Nonetheless, we will do our half, which is to point out up, be attentive, and be keen to stick with no matter God is doing, as mysterious as it might be. We are able to belief that later, there could also be flowers or some new manner of encountering the Lord. We are able to belief that God is there, as absolutely as we will belief that one season follows one other, 12 months by 12 months.